Navigate Japan’s Airports with Ease
Japan is a pretty popular travel destination, so let’s review the Japanese names of some of the common places within the airports that you may use. These words will come in handy if you want to practise your Japanese while you’re in the country, or if you come across someone who may not be as fluent in English as you are.
Before we begin, just a quick reminder that we’re focusing on places within an airport, but a lot of these places exist outside of airports too, so I hope the vocabulary we go over today will be useful in a variety of situations.
Essential Vocabulary
Let’s first review a number of place names that you may already be familiar with. If you do already know these words, try repeating the words and check your rhythm - or the number of mora per word - as well as individual sounds and overall pronunciation as we go along.
エレベーター (erebētā) - elevator
エスカレーター (esukarētā) - escalator
ラウンジ (raunji) - lounge
レストラン (resutoran) - restaurant
ゲートエリア (gēto eria) - (boarding) gate area
駐車場（ちゅうしゃじょう/chūshajō) - parking lot, car park
喫煙室（きつえんしつ/kitsuenshitsu) - smoking room
Out of the words we’ve seen so far, I think ラウンジ (raunji) and ゲートエリア (gēto eria) are the only ones that exist in airports only.
The last set of words to review before moving on are おトイレ (otoire), お手洗い （おてあらい/otearai), and お化粧室 （おけしょうしつ/okeshōshitu). All 3 of these words refer to a washroom, bathroom, restroom - whatever you'd like to call it.
おトイレ (otoire) is the least polite word, meaning “toilet”; but it’s the most straightforward.
お手洗い（おてあらい/otearai) is more polite and you may hear it fairly commonly used throughout Japan. This name refers to a handwashing place, with perhaps a similar feel to “washroom”
お化粧室（おけしょうしつ/okeshōshitu) is the most polite of these 3, and means “makeup room”.
What’s the お (o) at the Beginning of Some Words?
If you’re wondering what the お (o) in front of each word is, it’s part of 美化語（びかご/bikago), which you may remember from the two videos linked below. By adding the お (o), we make the words more polite. And although you can say トイレ (toire) and 化粧室（けしょうしつ/keshōshitu) without the お (o), 手洗い（てあらい/tearai) isn’t used without the お (o) so I recommend that at least for that one word, you always include the お (o).
Next, moving on to words you may be less familiar with!
We have…
出発ゲート（しゅっぱつゲート/shuppatsu gēto) - departure gate
更衣室（こういしつ/kōishitsu) - change room
身障者用設備（しんしょうしゃようせつび/shinshōshayō setsubi) - accessibility equipment, which can include accessible washrooms, braille, parking spaces, and more
案内カウンター（あんないカウンター/annai kauntā) - information desk
免税店（めんぜいてん/menzeiten) - duty free shop
両替（りょうがえ/ryōgae) - currency/money exchange
国内線（こくないせん/kokunaisen) - domestic line or route
国際線（こくさいせん/kokusaisen) - international line or route
礼拝室（れいはいしつ/reihaishitsu) - prayer room or chapel
展望デッキ（てんぼうデッキ/tenbō dekki) - observation deck
As usual, this isn’t a complete list of places you can find in the airport, but I think they’re likely to be the places you’re most likely to be using.
The Narita Airport Terminal 1 Floor Map
Let’s take a look at a few places on the Narita Airport Terminal 1 floor map.
Before looking at any of the details, we can see that this page is the map of the 5th floor. And on this floor, we have レストラン (resutoran), ショップ (shoppu), 展望デッキ（てんぼうデッキ/tenbō dekki).
In the black square, you’ll see the details for the symbols on the map, and at the bottom, each number indicates a different store, restaurant, or other services available on that floor.
The places you might recognize are:
案内カウンター（あんないカウンター/annai kauntā)
トイレ (toire)
エレベーター (erebētā)
エスカレーター (esukarētā)
And since it’s written in English, you may recognize AED as well.
You may have noticed that there are two accessible washrooms, labelled here as 車椅子で利用できるトイレ（くるまいすでしようできるトイレ/kurumaisu de shiyō dekiru toire) - washrooms that can be used with a wheelchair.
Let’s take a look at one more floor, the third floor.
Right away, we can see that this is the 国際線出発ゲートエリア（こくさいせんしゅっぱつゲートエリア/kokusaisen shuppatsu gēto eria), so it’s the departure gate area for international flights. And just like with the previous floor, we see the list of the symbols on the map and all the restaurants, stores, and other services available.
On this floor, there are:
案内カウンター（あんないカウンター/annai kauntā)
トイレ (toire)
礼拝室（れいはいしつ/reihaishitsu)
エレベーター (erebētā)
エスカレーター (esukarētā)
AED
Just like there were on the previous floors.
As a quick bonus, let’s go over the other places listed, in case you’re curious.
The two types of accessible washrooms, or 車椅子で利用できるトイレ（くるまいすでしようできるトイレ/kurumaisu de shiyō dekiru toire) are differentiated by one being オストメイト対応（オストメイトたいおう/osutomeito taiō), meaning that one can accomodate people who have ostomy bags.
There is also a ベビールーム (bebī rūmu), which would include things like changing tables for babies, キッズパーク (kidzzu pku), a space for children to play - but they do need to be supervised, and カームダウン・クールダウン (kāmudaun, kūrudaun), which is described as being “a room where people with developmental, intellectual, and mental disabilities can relax.”
Asking for Directions
When you’re in an airport in Japan - Narita or other - and you need some help, here are 3 things that you can do:
Go to an 案内カウンター（あんないカウンター/annai kauntā)
Ask for English resources, like a map. You can say 英語の＿はありますか？（えいごの＿はありますか？/Eigo no __ wa arimasu ka?) where you fill in the blank with what you want. For example, 英語の地図はありますか？（えいごのちずはありますか？/Eigo no chizu wa arimasu ka?) - Do you have an English map?
Ask where something is. If you choose to ask in Japanese, here are 3 options you have:
～はどこですか？ (~ wa doko desu ka?) to simply ask “Where is __?”
～に行きたいのですが（～にいきたいのですが/~ ni ikitai no desu ga) if to say “I want to go to ____”
～を探しているのですが（～をさがしているのですが/~ wo sagashite iru no desu ga) if you want to say “I’m looking for ___”
Of course, if you choose to ask these questions, you’ll need to be able to understand the answers you receive, whether they point to a place on a map, use everyday Japanese to speak to you, or they respond in keigo.
We’ll cover asking and receiving directions in another video. In the meantime, review keigo by watching this video that will help you differentiate formal from informal Japanese and this video that explains keigo in detail!
To look at the Narita Airport Terminal 1 Map in detail in Japanese, please click here. To view the English version, please click here.
If you have questions or requests for future topics, please let me know in the comments!
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